Louis Lejeune, 1st Duke of Radziłów
| birth_place = Strasbourg, Kingdom of France | death_date = | death_place = Łazienki Palace, Warsaw, Poland | restingplace = Casimir and John Cathedral, Warsaw, Poland | party = Independent | parents = | spouse = | children = | full name = | nickname = "The Fox of Poland and France"The translating of the nickname is: and . | branch = Calvary, Engineers, Artillery | rank = Marshal of the Armies Colonel-General (France) | serviceyears = 1792–1842 (Poland) 1794–1813 (France) | battles = French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars | mawards = Commander of the légion d'honneur chevalier de Saint-Louis Order of Virtuti Militari Order of the White Eagle Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Order of the Iron Crown Order of St. Vladimir Order of St. Anna |laterwork = |module = |footnotes = }} Louis Lejeune, 1st Duke of Radziłów (3 February 1778 – 29 October 1863), known in Poland as Ludwik Franciszek; was a French-born Polish general, soldier and Independent statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Imperial Poland, serving twice as Prime Minister from 1817 to 1829, and also served as Marshal of the Sejm from 1817 to 1825. As Marshal of Poland, Louis-François was becoming the leading military figure within the Polish–Lithuanian Empire, successfully victories during the Forty Years' War, and the War of the Ukrainian Succession, earning the nickname, "The Fox of Poland and France". He entered the French Army as a volunteer in 1792, the same year he joined the Polish Army. During his military career, when the French Revolution broke out in his native France, he took part and was wounded at Valmy. He then went attended the sieges of Landrecies, of Quesnoy and Valenciennes. Louis-François become aide-de-camp, and then lieutenant-assistant, and was the campaigns of 1794 in Holland and 1795. After the French Revolution, he then continued in the Polish Army, Louis-François served as lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Light Cavalry of the Imperial Guard in 1799. During the Napeolonic Wars, allied to the depot in 1798, he succeeded brilliantly in his exams and was made captain. He became aide-de-camp to Marshal Berthier in 1800 until 1812. During the Peninsular War, Louis-François was wounded and captured, and took an active part in practically all of the Napoleonic campaigns. Becoming captain after Marengo, and then chef de bataillon after Austerlitz, and then colonel at the Siege of Saragossa. In 1812, he then become General and chief of staff to Davout, but he will left the post, and made an unsuccessfully return to Poland. After rejoin of the French Army, he then participate during the Saxony campaign, where he was present at Lutzen. Then during the battle of Hoyersverda, he then wounded several times and lastly at Hanau, and was authorized to leave the army in November 1813. After slowly recovering, Louis-François then made to Poland and served his lover Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, and during the Polish royal election, 1817, he supported Leopold. After Leopold become Emperor Stanisław III Leopold, Louis-François was awarded with the rank of Marshal of the Armies, which he accepted after Stanisław III resigned his position in 1815. By 1817, Emperor Stanisław III reestablished the office of Prime Minister and appointed Louis-François, which he accepts. As the first official Prime Minister of the Polish Empire, Louis-François was an Independent that can act and cooperate with the monarch factions, the Royalist Party and the Opposition. By the following year, he then travel back to his native France where his relationship with King Louis XVIII. As Prime Minister, Louis-François was indeed popular in Poland, and surpassing laws such as justice reform, which popularized by Emperor Stanislaw III. He than resign as Marshal of the Armies in 1824, as well as Sejm Marshal the following year. Upon his final term as Prime Minister of Poland, he retained as good status as 'one of the most successful Prime Ministers of Poland.' Polish historians re-called Louis-François' run of 12 years as Prime Minister "is rightly regarded as one of the major feats of Polish political history." Louis-François then announced that he will not seek re-election, which he decline to be his third term. After his retirement in 1829, Louis-François was succeeded by Karol Jan Radziłówski, an Royalist Deputy minister and soldier. Louis-François retired and was given the Łazienki Palace in Warsaw by his friend and lover Stanisław III Leopold, and was given rant free. He then restated as Polish Marshal of the Armies until his retired in 1842 from the military after 50 years. Early life Louis-François was born on morning of 6:30am of 3 February 1778 in Strasbourg, the Kingdom of France. His parents, François Lejeune (23 May 1740 – 1 December 1812), an French noble and was an royalist and his wife Marianna Zoladz (27 March 1743 – 15 April 1834), an Polish-born French nurse and noblewomen. During his childhood, Louis-François was described as an feminine male who behaves like an women. His sexuality however was made an few relationships, which the most famous is Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the future Stanisław III Leopold, Emperor of Poland. Military service Hired as a volunteer Lejeune first studied painting with Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes with Jean-Victor Bertin but left the workshop and left as a volunteer in 1792 in the Compagnie des Arts de Paris. He received his baptism of fire at the Battle of Valmy. Appointed sergeant in the Arsenal battalion, he went into artillery in La Fère in 1793, attended the sieges of Landrecies, of Quesnoy and Valenciennes, where he became aide-de-camp to General Philippe Joseph Jacob and then, as lieutenant-assistant to engineering, the campaigns of 1794 in Holland and 1795. Campaigns (1798–1813) Called to the depot in 1798, he succeeded brilliantly in his exams and was made a captain on attachment to the engineers. He became aide-de-camp to Marshal Berthier in 1800, a post he retained until 1812 and in which he took an active part in practically all of the Napoleonic campaigns. He was wounded and captured in Spain. He was promoted to full captain after Marengo and chef de bataillon after Austerlitz, also becoming a knight of the Légion d'honneur and a colonel at the Siege of Saragossa. The German campaign of 1806 brought him to Munich, where he visited the workshop of Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography. Lejeune was fascinated by the possibilities of the new method and whilst there he made the drawing on stone of his famous Cossack (printed by C. and ~f. Senefelder, 1806). Whilst he was taking his dinner, and with his horses harnessed and waiting to take him back to Paris, one hundred proofs were printed, one of which he subsequently submitted to Napoleon. The introduction of lithography into France was greatly due to the efforts of Lejeune. In 1812, during the French invasion of Russia, he was made général de brigade and chief of staff to Davout. Frostbitten on the face, Lejeune left his post during the retreat from Russia and was arrested on the orders of Napoleon. Freed in March 1813, Lejeune was then sent to the Illyrian provinces, before rejoining the army under the orders of marshal Oudinot, becoming his chief of staff. During the Saxony campaign, Lejeune was present at the Battle of Lutzen (1813), the crossing of the River Spree and at Bautzen. He was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur and a commander of the Order of Maximilian of Bavaria. At the battle of Hoyersverda, when Bülow's corps wiped out the 12th corps formed up in square on the plain, Lejeune (at risk of being kidnapped) ventured into the enemy lines with one battalion, general Wolf's cavalry and six 12 pounder guns. He thus broke the whole of the Prussian artillery and saved marshal Oudinot and his army. Wounded several times and lastly at Hanau, he was authorised to leave the army in November 1813 after more than 20 years' service. Marshal of the Armies Political career Sejm Marshal Prime Minister of Poland Family Retirement Death and funeral Personality Titles and tributes Honours and awards * 1808: Knight of the Legion of Honour (France) * 1810: Order of Leopold (Austrian Empire) * 1813: Officer of the Legion of Honour * 1823: Commander of the Legion of Honour * 1824: Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (Sweden) * Knight of the Order of Saint Louis (France) Lejeune's name has been inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris (19th column). Nicknames The Fox Notes References * Sources *Fournier Sarlovèze, Raymond-Joseph (1836–1916) Le Général Lejeune (Paris, Librairie de l'Art ancien et moderne, n.d.) «Extrait de la "Revue de l'art ancien et moderne"»Chase Maenius, The Art of Wars External links * Media related to Louis-François Lejeune at Category. Category:1778 births Category:1863 deaths Category:French generals Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Category:Barons Lejeune Category:18th-century French painters Category:French male painters Category:19th-century French painters Category:French printmakers Category:French war artists Category:Military art Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Category:Recipients of the Order of the Sword Category:Knights of the Order of Saint Louis Category:French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Category:19th-century war artists